DATELINE: CUBA : THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, THEN AND NOW

Havana, 1959: Fulgencio Batista (right) fled the country in in the early morning hours on Jan. 1.

Santiago de Cuba, 1991: Canadian team officials continue to win points for foresight and decency.

Theirs was the delegation that saw to it that their athletes were not without toilet seats at the athletes’ village in Havana.

Early scouting revealed the problem and the Canadians brought 100 seats.

They even offered to share with the Americans, who had not noticed the deficiency.

The Canadians were also concerned with the mental needs of their delegation. To that end, they have rented two rooms at a resort hotel near here. They call these “quiet rooms”--the village is noisy--and each staff member will rotate to the beach for two days at least three times over the three weeks.

Canadian athletes make day trips.

Said one Canadian official: “We recognize that we are all in a stressful environment here. We wanted a place where there was privacy and peace.

“You Americans are really organized. You think of all the details about organization. For instance, your FAX machine will always be working before ours does.

“But we try to think of the human side. We think that’s important, too.”